The Rev. Grindal Rawson,[1] the son of Edward Rawson and Rachel Perne, was born in Boston 23 January 1659.[2] Rev. Rawson was one of the ancestors of President William Howard Taft.[3]
Grindal graduated from Harvard College in 1678. "After taking his first degree, "he was invited," so writes his wife, in a letter to Cotton Mather, 'by his brother-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Torrey, to come to his house and study Divinity there, which he did, with such proficiency, that he was advised to enter upon preaching. He preached his first sermon at Medfield with great acceptation, and after two months' occasional performances at other places, he received an invitation [Oct 4, 1689,] to Mendon,' in the county of Worcester, whither about twenty families had recently returned, the town having been abandoned by its inhabitants during King Philip's War. "[4]
On 30 August 1682, Grindal married Susanna Wilson, the daughter of The Reverend John Wilson and his wife Sarah Hooker. Susanna's grandfather was the Rev. John Wilson the first minister of the first church at Boston and the grandnephew of Edmund Grindal, the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Grindal and Susanna were the parents of twelve children: Edward (died young), Edward (died young), John (died young), Susanna, Edmund, Wilson, Mary, Rachel, John, David (died young), Grindal and Elizabeth.[5]
Grindal served as the minister at Mendon for 34 years. He is well noted for learning the local Native American language, Algonquian, so that he could preach to the local natives in their own language. He also translated popular religious texts into Algonquian, including: Thomas Shepard’s Sincere Convert, John Cotton’s Spiritual Milk, and a Confession of Faith for Boston Churches.[6]
Grindal died 6 February 1715 at Mendon, at the age of 57. [7] His remains rest in a tomb at the Old Cemetery at Mendon. ""Here Lyeth Interr'd the Body of the Reverend Mr. Grindall Rawson, the late faithful and learned Pastor of the church of Christ in Mendon, who died Feby. 6, 1715, and entered 6 days into ye 57th year of his age Deceased the 35th year of his ministry. The memory of the Just is Blessed."[8]
"In the funeral sermon which Cotton Mather preached at Mr. Rawson’s decease, he characterizes him in the following words: 'We generally esteemed him a truly pious man, and a prudent one, and a person of temper, and every way qualified for a friend that might be delighted in. We honored him for his industrious oversight of the flock in the wilderness which had been committed unto him, and the variety of successful pains which he took for the good of those to whom God had therefore exceedingly endeared him. We honored him for his intellectual abilities, which frequently procured applications to him, and brought him sometimes upon our most conspicuous theatres, and we usually took it for granted that things would be fairly done where he had a hand in the doing of them. We honored him for doing the work of an evangelist among our Indians, of whose language he was a master that had scarce an equal, and for whose welfare his performances were such as render our loss herein hardly to be repaired. Such services are Pyramids."[9]
After his death, Susanna wrote a moving tribute to her husband which was sent in a letter to the Rev. Cotton Mather. It is too lengthy to reproduce in the biography here; however, a link to the tribute, which was published in the Rawson Family Memorial, is here. The tribute is well written, and provides an insight into the character and education of its author.[10]
"Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," [11]
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